nt, 1994). However, developing countries consider international copyright protection to be a device to keep them eternally dependent on the technology and creativeness of the industrial world and to hamper their capacities to create and invent. They argue copyright protection is a Western concept which was created to maintain a monopoly over the production and distribution of knowledge and products. Some Asian countries even say copyright was not part of the Asian cultural tradition. To some extent, it was imposed on Asian countries by Western trading partners (Altbach, 1988). Besides, they claim that knowledge is the heritage of all mankind and therefore should be respectfully shared by all, but protection denies them the educational and instructional tools available from copyrighted works because they are available only at prices they cannot afford and under conditions that may violate their sovereignty. They also assert that they are learning by copying, which is helpful for the later creation of their own technologies (Stalson, 1987). One argument by Roberto Verzola even accused the West of being the real pirate when he talked about illegal copying software in Manila. Verzola regarded copying software as a benign case of piracy, compared with the malignant case of the U.S. pirating local doctors from the Philippines. He said, when the U.S. pirated their doctors, it took the irreplaceable resource for it takes 10 years to train a new doctor, and denied many people of the services of a doctor. But when the Filipinos pirate the computer program, they didn't deny any American citizen the use of the program (Verzola, 1992). 2. Progress Yet, despite these conceptual arguments and practical problems, international copyright is increasingly accepted among developing countries, and is becoming entrenched , both in law and in practice, especially among Asian countries, such as China, Singapore and Malaysia, which have witnessed fast economic development in the past decade. China started copyright legislation in 1990 and is moving to enforce copyright laws more aggressively through the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, the agency charged with overseeing copyright protection in China. The government says it is determined to control the rampant manufacture of fake compact and laser discs and software. Singapore passed a copyright act with teeth in 1986 and has been enforcing copyright with some vigor. Malaysia has also a law on the books and South Korea has begun to enforce controls over fake products as well (Goldstein, 1994). Two major reasons can be cited for the remarkable progress of copyright in these countries which opposed international copyright protection in the past. The first one is a combination of carrots and sticks from the industrialized nations. The carrot in this instance was the willingness of developed nations to accept a version of compulsory licensing as a way of showing their understanding of the special problems in the developing countries. The stick is the pressure that has been applied to major pirating countries to implement and enforce copyright laws. The second reason is an understanding on the part of the developing countries that knowledge is an international commodity and requires international regulation, as well as a recognition that they have joined the international knowledge network and that they are "producers" as well as "consumers" of knowledge (Altbach, 1988). It is this progress in the past decade that has motivated more nations, such as China, to join the two principal international conventions dealing in copyrights, namely, the Berne Union for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Property (the Berne Convention) and the Universal Copyright Convention (the UCC). III. INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS 1. The Berne Convention The Berne Convention is the first major copyright convention in the world. The original Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works was signed at Berne, Switzerland, on September 9, 1886, and went into force on December 5, 1887. The original Berne Convention was intended to promote five objectives: (1) the development of copyright laws in favor of authors to bring about better worldwide copyright protection; (2) the removal over time of reciprocity as a basis for rights; (3) the elimination of discrimination in rights against foreign authors in all countries; (4) the reduction of formalities (formal requirements) for the recognition and protection of copyright in foreign works; and finally (5) the promotion of uniform international legislation for the protection of literary and artistic works (Copyright Office, 1989). The first Berne Convention was a simple document in which two cardinal principles were established, both of continuing vitality today: (1) the concept of a union and (2) the rule of national treatment. Under the concept of a union, the countries adhering to the Berne Convention organized themselves into a "union," by which members established a permanent entity constituting a separate cooperative unit that would continue in existence regardless of future entrances into, or withdrawal from, the convention by individuals. For instance, the members of the Berne Convention has grown from 10 in 1886 to 108 in 1994, but the Berne Convention has been functioning and will continue to function as an international copyright treaty among member countries. The rule of national treatment provides that authors enjoy the same protection for their works in other countries as those countries accord their own authors (Copyright Office, 1989). For example, Greece, a Berne country, must treat works from Germany (also a Berne member) as if the work had originated in Greece and was subject to Greek copyright law (Gasaway & Wiant, 1994). The Berne Convention has been revised five times in the past. Thus, there are five Berne Convention texts with respective focuses on formalities, moral rights, duration of protection an

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